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In the 13th century the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous land empire in history, brought much of Eurasia under one rule and made the trade routes between China and the Black Sea safer. About a century later, the Black Death probably travelled west along some of the same routes.

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Historians call this period the Pax Mongolica, the “Mongol peace”. The conquests themselves were brutal, but afterwards a single power policed the roads from China to the Black Sea. From 1234 the Mongols also built the Yam, a chain of relay stations about a day's ride apart that gave messengers and officials fresh horses and fodder. Merchants and envoys could now cross Asia more safely, and Marco Polo reached the court of Kublai Khan in the 1270s. Silk, spices, ideas and skills moved in both directions. But the same links helped disease to travel. By the 1340s plague was spreading west from Central Asia along the trade routes, and once it reached the Black Sea, merchant ships carried it into the Mediterranean. The epidemic also helped to bring the Mongol peace to an end.

Türkçe oku
13. yüzyılda tarihin en geniş kara imparatorluğu olan Moğol İmparatorluğu, Avrasya'nın büyük bölümünü tek bir yönetim altında topladı ve Çin ile Karadeniz arasındaki ticaret yollarını daha güvenli hâle getirdi. Yaklaşık bir yüzyıl sonra Kara Ölüm, büyük olasılıkla aynı yolların bir kısmını izleyerek batıya ilerledi.

Tarihçiler bu döneme Pax Mongolica, yani “Moğol barışı” der. Fetihler çok kanlı olmuştu, ama ardından Çin'den Karadeniz'e kadar yolları tek bir güç denetlemeye başladı. Moğollar 1234'ten itibaren Yam adlı bir menzil sistemi de kurdu: Aralarında yaklaşık bir günlük at yolu bulunan bu istasyonlar, ulaklara ve görevlilere taze at ve yem sağlıyordu. Tüccarlar ve elçiler artık Asya'yı çok daha güvenle boydan boya geçebiliyordu; Marco Polo da 1270'lerde Kubilay Han'ın sarayına ulaştı. İpek, baharat, fikirler ve beceriler iki yönde de dolaştı. Ama aynı bağlar hastalığın da yolunu açtı. 1340'lara gelindiğinde veba, ticaret yolları boyunca Orta Asya'dan batıya yayılıyordu; Karadeniz'e ulaştıktan sonra tüccar gemileriyle Akdeniz'e taşındı. Salgın, Moğol barışının sona ermesinde de rol oynadı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Pax Mongolica
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